A REPORT FROM THE FLORIDA HOUSING COALITION SECTION FIVE:
The Impact of COVID-19 on Housing in Florida Prior to March 2020 (the beginning of the economic impacts caused by COVID-19 in the United States) Florida’s unemployment rate was at a record breaking low of 2.8%. By April 2020, the unemployment rate spiked to 13.8%, the largest in recorded history surpassing the 11.3% experienced during the Great Recession. In March and April, employment in Florida dropped by nearly 1.2 million jobs. According to Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, over “the space of two months, the unemployment rate shifted from a near 50-year low to a near 50-year high.” The Florida Economic Estimating Conference does not expect unemployment levels to reach pre-pandemic numbers until Fiscal Year 2029-3051. This widespread and sudden economic crisis created housing insecurity for hundreds of thousands of Floridians who lost their jobs or saw their work hours reduced. This spurred the public and private sectors to act in various ways to help stave off eviction and foreclosure. Starting in mid-March, eviction moratoriums were established at the local level by City and County Commissions, Sherriff’s Offices, and by local court jurisdictions. This was followed by the federal CARES Act, passed on March 27, 2020, which provided eviction and foreclosure moratoriums for households living in properties with various federallybacked assistance and funding for emergency housing assistance programs. In early April, the Governor of Florida implemented a statewide eviction and foreclosure moratorium which lasted until October. When it lapsed, the CDC’s Eviction Moratorium took precedence. Local government SHIP offices in particular moved quickly and effectively to provide emergency housing assistance to households and individuals negatively impacted by the pandemic. Immediately after federal and state disasters were declared in April and May 2020, local governments began deploying emergency rent and mortgage assistance programs using SHIP, Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) dollars, CDBG, ESG, and in some cases, general revenue funds. These swift actions kept thousands of Floridians stably housed during early months of the public health crisis. In June, the Governor announced the state would deploy $250 million of its Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) dollars to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation for emergency housing assistance, $120 million of which would be deployed through the 119 SHIP offices. The money was a huge success and a testament to the vital housing infrastructure put in place by the Sadowski Act. SHIP
offices were able to spend over $130 million in CRF funds to assist over 30,000 households. Although local governments have done a fantastic job expending emergency COVID-19 housing assistance to date, hundreds of thousands of households are still experiencing housing instability in Florida and our affordable housing stock remains limited. As shown in figure 15, evictions have begun to rise again after falling as the state and federal eviction moritorums took affect. The demand for assistance has far outpaced the available funding resources. There are still many gaps to fill to respond equitably to the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure all Floridians have a safe and affordable home.
COVID-19 Exacerbated the Affordable Housing Shortage Although the housing market boomed in 2020 due to favorable demographics, a change in consumer demand, and historically low interest rates, only some households benefited from the boom. Florida suffered an affordable housing shortage before the pandemic and COVID-19 has only exacerbated the issue. According to the Florida Realtors, as of December 2020, the active inventory of single-family homes is down a staggering 44.1% since December 2019 (figure 13). In the same report, the Florida Realtors show that Florida has a record low supply of single-family housing inventory. This lack of inventory has put an upward pressure on home prices as the median sale price increased from $270,000 in December 2019 to $309,000 in December 2020, an increase of 14.4% statewide. MSAs across the state have seen large volume in home sales, a decline in inventory, and a similarly large uptick in home prices48. FLHOUSING.ORG | THE FLORIDA HOUSING COALITION
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